to school with beavers

 

i enrolled myself at the beaver school

to learn the art of gnawing the tree

grown massive sucking, and sucking

all minerals leaving none to the fragile

shrubs, or the creeping vines around!

those trees have grown gigantic

as the Hawaiian banyan alienating the minute

pushing the little and making them marginal

subverting the small and the humane

making the vital needs of the needy

subordinate to the gluttonous institution!

in that school i did quickly learn

Moses, Amos, John, and even Jesus

had walked those portals training humans

to gnaw, like beavers, the trees, institutions

serving not an authentic growth of the small!

henry victor      10.05.2007

paradigm of gratitude

mountain ash, elm, poplar and weeping

willow, my cherished sisters

children of my mother earth

you are a paradigm of gratitude

the blanket you knit to cover

our naked mother as the cold winter

advances to cover her feeble body

sustaining us in life and in death

shedding your very organ, you absorb

the energy our father sun sends

with such impartiality on the selfish

and the very liberal to warm and nourish,

your willing sacrifice puts me

to shame that i, the leader

with all my learning have mastered

nothing but egotistic grabbing

and have miserably failed

to learn even basic skills

on generous giving

you teach eloquently with regularity

henry victor     09.10.2002

triumphant city

plenty of preparations

too many high-rises

busy planning and working hard!

implementing a scripted plan

shifting even the pole star

bending the Ursa Major

establishing four divine worship

in a single cathedral with tall steeple

leaving no room for rest

little space for impulse

not even little for a spontaneous

geese flying in for nesting

beside water holes

a resting before a flight back

when heaven here break

forth for hibernating

pouring purity

the snow once more!

©  henry victor       19.03.2016

Christmas 2000

That wailing and weeping

Now, not in ancient Rama,
But, right in our midst
Not Rachel, for her children
But, helpless fellow creatures
Refusing, all consolation
Cause, they are no more
That’s Christmas of Christians
Deaf, dumb, and blind

Forests thousands of acres

The gardens of Eden damaged and destroyed
For holiday decorations
And cosmetic Christmas worship
For printing of comical carol sheets
And hilarious, hypocritical greeting cards

Turkeys, with other fowls

And innocent animals
Butchered, in millions of tons
Slaughtered mercilessly
For celebration of
The creator’s love
For pretentious Christmas fellowships
And for the feeding of hellish greed

Oh did you hear that

Wailing and weeping,
This time, not in ancient Rama
But right in our midst
Not Rachel,
No, not Rachel, for her children
But, helpless fellow creatures
Refusing, all consolation
That’s Christmas for Christians-
Deaf, dumb, and blind

Henry Victor      25.12.2000